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Finland lean on "Rafaels Angel"

newswire | 23.10.2002 17:28

Finland is buying Israeli missiles for its naval defence.
The purchase has been concluded. It doesn`t seem to
bother the Finnish government that the stateowned Israeli
Rafael weapons consortium is the leading defencecontractor
in a country that blatantly refuses to cope with UN and
keeps violating on daily basis Palestinian residents basic rights.

Finland lean on "Rafaels Angel"

Finland is buying Israeli missiles for its naval defence.
The purchase has been concluded. It doesn`t seem to
bother the Finnish government that the stateowned Israeli
Rafael weapons consortium is the leading defencecontractor
in a country that blatantly refuses to cope with UN and
keeps violating on daily basis Palestinian residents basic rights.

"Israel has a stranglehold on the Palestinian economy;
uses snipers to shoot at anyone, man. woman or child, that
does not full adhere to their lockdowns, keeping whole families inside their homes, for months at a time; Continue to bulldoze Palestinian homes for not having the colonial occupiers "building permit" - something they never can get - but those settlers of the "correct" religion get routinely."
- Will Youmans, Dissident Voice, October 12th 2002

Finland has a long tradition of buying arms from its
neighbour Sweden. Particularly for naval defence purposes.
But for some reason Sweden and all the other European
defencecontractors were suddenly neglected.

The small nordic country seems for some reason unable or
unwilling to show restrain from a political and ethical point of view towards fragile middle eastern security issue.

"The Israeli academics' letter calls for "the international community to pay close attention to events that unfold within Israel and in the occupied territories." International activists must "make it absolutely clear that crimes against humanity will not be tolerated." It also recommends, "concrete measures to prevent such crimes from taking place."" - Will Youmans, Dissident Voice, October 12th 2002

Ironically there`s a song called Rafaelin Enkeli(Rafaels Angel) composed by a popular Finnish musician. This could yet turn out to become hot piece of music - but hardly for the antiwar movement.

More information on the Israeli weapons consortium Rafael and the global security issue can be obtained from these websites:

 http://www.rafael.co.il/web/
 http://www.geocities.com/stop_abuse.geo/Actions/Libel-Civil/97-1184_civil.htm
 http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/israel/rafael.htm
 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0323-05.htm
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/892941.stm
 http://www.greenpeace.ch/press/1998/268.html


Finland buys Israeli missiles
(published earlier on independent media center)

The government of Finland has quietly approved a purchase
of Israeli missiles worth over 100 million euros.
Officially the deal has been kept secret and camouflaged
as the missiles would originate from Germany.

The deal is very sensitive because of the implications of the on going war in the middle east between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The Israeli made Dandy navaldefence missile has been
re-named to euro-Spike. Among other weapons bought from
Israel can be mentioned antitank missiles and artillery projectiles.

From the Finnish Naval Forces point of view the deal is of
significant importance because part of the old dated coastal defence will be replaced with the new Israeli missiles.

The deal is becoming hot in the cabinets of the political cabal. It has been understood that the president of Finland Tarja Halonen put preconditions on the deal, i.e it would require unanimosity of the ministers of the SDP Social Democratic Party in order to be approved. However the foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja has not concealed to the deal. On contrary, in a memo brought to the committee of treasury he rejects the deal. According to the ministry of foreign affairs Finland should not buy weapons from Israel. It states further that Israel is a country that is waging war. It continues to state that according to EU-rules membercountries should purchase their weapons from EU countries.

The Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen invoked to this by opting for the deal by asking to camouflage the missile deal by registering it into a German company. The Defence Minister of Finland Jan-Erik Enestam reminded his colleagues at the meeting that the conversations are to be held secret for the next 25 years.

Israel has an unknown number of defencecontractors in Europe camouflaged as subcontractors.

Also check these websites for further information

 http://www.army-technology.com/projects/gill/
 http://csf.colorado.edu/forums/peace/aug98/0011.html
 http://generalaoun.org/july8-12.html
 http://www.janes.com/regional_news/europe/news_briefs/jdw980902_07.shtml
 http://www.janes.com/defence/land_forces/news_briefs/jdw980902_07.shtml
 http://www.janes.com/defence/land_forces/news_briefs/jdw980819_11.shtml
 http://www.ummah.com/inewsletter/massacres/palestine/index22.htm

newswire

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Display the following 2 comments

  1. Courteous Politicians,,, — Brian
  2. Ministers and sinisters — Solidarity for firefighters, support them